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Because the world was full of holes,
she made a man of cardboard and children's salt clay,
pressed in two green pennies for his eyes
and gave him half her life.
He woke as if from a dream of drowning,
gasping for the sweet air of the Earth.

The way of things came, so he went away
to trace sidewalks and cluttered beaches.
When he saw that the world was full of holes,
he made a woman of wrapping paper,
brown-bottle glass and masking tape
and gave her half his life.

She stood, turned away from him
and said: "The world is full of holes
that sing when the air rushes through."
Walking down to the ragged water,
she made a school of tinfoil fish
and gave them half her life.




Originally from Mississippi, Stella Nickerson studied engineering at Brigham Young University. She is now pursuing an advanced engineering degree at Arizona State University. Her poetry has previously appeared in Cicada and in Strong Verse.
Current Issue
14 Jul 2025

This exhibition presents pieces from our permanent collection that are rarely displayed together, in order to illuminate the life of one of our most celebrated early rulers, Nizararuddin Zafer Abu Hassan Mohammed, better known as Prince Nizar.
There’s a ghost stuck up my nose. Has to be.
The faeries spied you with the peasant boy
One of the recent bright spots in the world of speculative short fiction publishing is the rebirth of Fantasy Magazine. Yes, Fantasy is back, published under the Psychopomp umbrella with co-editors Arley Sorg and Shingai Njeri Kagunda at the helm. (You can read more about how this all came about at Psychopomp and support the zine by signing up for a subscription.)  “Silence Starved and Swallowed” by Sydney Paige Guerrero from Fantasy 97, the first issue of Fantasy in this incarnation, is a devastating, darkly gleaming story about grief and sadness. Guerrero describes how our inability to put our emotions
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